Mourinho confident he can "build" Chelsea into title winners

He's now working with veterans from his previous period such as John Terry, Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole in the latter stages of their career and younger talent such as Eden Hazard and Oscar yet to reach their full potential.

"I'm enjoying this challenge," he told the London Evening Standard. "It's a different challenge from before. The other one was to win for the first time, there was the impact of a new foreign owner that was something new in English football and world football. Now it is a different perspective.

"I have different people at different stages of their careers in my hands. You never know how they will react.

"I didn't know where John, Frank, Ashley and the other senior players were. I didn't know if I could recover their motivation to play at the top, their understanding of the importance they have in the squad, in the club, even if they're not the players that can play 50-60 games a season any more.

"The new players have come from different countries and all of them are young people. Willian never played at a top European club; Andre Schurrle came from a club [Bayer Leverkusen] not fighting for titles; it's Oscar's second season but physically he's still getting used to English football.

"Many people told me Chelsea supporters will expect me to do the same as before. I was never worried about that. I was sure about people's trust.

"In the same way people know I built a Chelsea team that lasted seven-eight years and was in place to fight for titles even after my departure, I know that I'm going to do the same [this time].

"People trust me and I like that feeling. People know I am one of them so they know that my happiness in the good moments is more than a normal manager and my sadness is more, too."